1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a system for selectively dispensing cubed or crushed ice from a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is now common practice in the art of refrigerators to provide an automatic ice maker within a freezer compartment of a refrigerator and further to provide a system for dispensing the ice into a recessed receiving area formed in a front panel of the refrigerator. In essence, these systems provide for the automatic filling of ice cube trays which are emptied into a bin following a freezing period. From the bin, the ice can be delivered to the receiving area by the selective activation of a drive unit such as a rotatable auger located within the bin. Most often, such ice dispensing systems incorporate a mechanism whereby the ice can be selectively crushed prior to reaching the receiving area.
In the industry, there has heretofore been proposed various different systems to accomplish this ice dispensing function. In general, these systems differ in the particular manner in which the cubed and crushed ice are delivered to the receiving area and the way in which the ice is actually crushed. For example, with respect to the manner in which the cubed and crushed ice are delivered, it is known in the art to incorporate two doors in an ice dispensing system with one of the doors functioning to direct cubed ice to the crushing area and the other door being used to deliver the cubed or crushed ice to the receiving area. Therefore, depending on the position of a user controlled selector unit, either one or both of the doors will be open for the delivery of ice. In another known system, an auger is rotated in opposite directions for dispensing the cubed and crushed ice respectively. Unfortunately, these ice delivery systems either suffer from an inherent time delay in the delivery of cubed ice following a crushed ice dispensing operation and/or, upon dispensing cubed ice for the first time after dispensing crushed ice, an avalanche of remaining crushed ice is received.
With respect to the manner in which the ice can be crushed in these prior art systems, numerous types of ice crushing mechanisms have been proposed. For example, it is known to provide multiple sets of crushing blades which rotate about a common axis with an auger with one of the blade sets being fixed for rotation with the auger and the other blade set being freely rotatable about the common axis. When crushed ice is selected, the freely rotatable blade set is secured against rotation such that the cubes of ice are crushed between the two sets of blades. In another known system, an anvil member can be positioned in an ice delivery passage and cubes of ice can be crushed between the anvil member and a single set of blades which rotated with the ice delivery auger. Finally, it is also known to linearly shift a first set of ice crushing blades into an ice delivery path so that cubes of ice can be crushed between the first set of blades and a second set of blades which rotates with the ice delivery auger. Unfortunately, such known systems suffer from various drawbacks including cost, durability and crushing effectiveness factors.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an improved ice dispensing system which is simple in structure so as to be cost efficient while still being durable and wherein cubed and crushed ice can be selectively dispensed in a timely and accurate manner.